M A I N   N E W S

Setback for activists as pvt, corporate graft taken out of Lokpal purview
RS panel drops clauses covering govt-aided trusts getting subsidised land
Tribune News Service

OLDER BILL The older Bill that the Lok Sabha passed in 2011 provided for Lokpal’s jurisdiction over officials of societies/associations wholly or partially funded or aided by government or in receipt of donation from public REWORKED BILL Select Committee has dropped word ‘aided’ from the clause saying it will flood the Lokpal with petty complaints Won’t cover private or corporate institutions that receive indirect govt support in form of subsidised land

New Delhi, November 27
After years of debating the need to make private entities accountable for government support they receive in terms of both funds and land, the much-awaited Lokpal Bill has conveniently exempted this category from the purview of the ombudsman.

Amidst the din of the FDI controversy rocking Parliament these days, the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha has made a major amendment to the older version of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill-2011 passed by the Lok Sabha in the 2011 winter session.

The reworked version of the Bill, which the government must introduce in the Rajya Sabha as such under rules (Select Committee reports are final), gives a quiet burial to two strong clauses that sought to bring all government-aided organisations and private societies and trusts raising public donations under the purview of the anti-corruption body.

In the present form, the Lokpal Bill won’t cover any private or corporate institution that receives indirect government support in the form of subsidised land. This means, all top corporate hospitals that routinely get subsidised land from the government on the promise of free treatment and beds to the poor will now be exempt from the purview of the Lokpal.

Also exempt will be all private trusts, clubs, societies, schools and religious institutions that raise public donations, such as the Rotary and Lions clubs.

The older Bill that the Lok Sabha passed was stronger as it contained a clause saying: “Lokpal will have jurisdiction over the officials of a society or association (registered or not) wholly or partially funded or aided by the government or in receipt of donation from the public.”

The Select Committee in its report on the Lokpal Bill has conveniently dropped the word “aided” from the clause saying it will flood the Lokpal with petty complaints and divert focus from big corruption.

In its justification, the committee says: “The aided category will cover bodies that have received land at subsidised rates or exemption from the Income Tax Act. The inclusion of aided organisations will flood the Lokpal with a large number of complaints, diverting it from tackling big-ticket corruption. Only those bodies should be brought under the Lokpal that receive direct government support in the form of funds and not indirect support. We recommend deletion of the word ‘aided’ from the clause.”

In another setback to the anti-corruption cause that Anna Hazare has been espousing from the very beginning, the committee has exempted all trusts and societies raising public donations.

“The Lokpal is meant to inquire into cases of corruption by public functionaries and entities taking private donations don’t strictly fall in this category. We recommend that all societies, such as Rotary Club, schools, dharamshalas and resident welfare bodies that raise money from the people be exempted from the Lokpal,” says the report.